


Welcome Home

by byericacameron



Series: Canon AU [2]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2459618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byericacameron/pseuds/byericacameron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kelly's first day with Sidewinder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome Home

They all sat in the rec room on base, waiting. Nick was studying maps of what he was 99 percent sure would be the location of their next deployment. Ty had challenged Eli to a darts game a while back but it had devolved into them cursing each other out in various languages. Digger was messing with something technological that Nick had the sneaking suspicion he wasn’t supposed to have access to let alone the authority to tamper with. Owen stretched out on the sofa, his cover over his eyes, still hungover from the night before.

None of them really wanted to be trapped in this room, but Kelly Abbott was supposed to be here soon.

They knew that their new Devil Doc was meeting with the CO and, for the first time since the higher-ups announced his imminent arrival, the Sidewinder team wasn’t constantly questioning his ability and existence. He’d already earned his first stripe in their eyes when he somehow managed to talk O’Flaherty into admitting he had a broken nose with nothing more than a raised eyebrow.

Nick was absolutely  _not_   _ever_  going to admit why it had been so easy for Kelly to do that.

Because that hadn’t happened. Nope. He hadn’t lusted after that gorgeous blond kid at all.

 _Don’t ask, don’t tell_ , Nick reminded himself. Again.

The door opened. When the CO walked through the door, everything—even Ty and Eli’s round of verbal sparring—stopped as Sidewinder jumped to their feet. Their arms had barely lifted for the salute before Captain Markesan shook his head and said, “As you were, boys.”

Nick saw Ty and Eli exchange a quick glance with raised eyebrows and then distinctly did  _not_  return to how they were. Most of Nick’s attention, though, was on the door. Specifically on the Kelly-shaped shadow hovering behind the captain.

“How you breathing, O’Flaherty?” Markesan asked with only the smallest of smirks on his face.

“Fine, sir.”

“Just had to get a jump on protocol and introduce yourself to your last team member, didn’t you?”

Only a lifetime of practice kept the blush off Nick’s cheeks. “You know us, sir.”

“I do. But I also know what I’ve heard about Abbott. I’m still trying to decide if placing him with you morons will end up being the best decision I’ve ever made or the worst.”

As he spoke, Markesan stepped fully into the room, revealing Kelly behind him.

Kelly in PT greens looked good, but something about the way he filled out what should have been standard-issue cammies was somewhat obscene. And then the fucker glanced at Nick out the corner of his eye, smirked, and winked. Fucking  _winked_.

Shit. Had he noticed the way Nick had been mentally drooling yesterday? Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Nick prayed that the confusion he felt didn’t make it to his face as he looked away.

“All right, here’s the deal. We found you a Doc, as you may have guessed. Took us longer than we expected to find someone the right kind of crazy to pair with you idiots.” Just the look in Markesan’s brown eyes told Nick that he was hella proud of Sidewinder’s crazy. Ty and Eli exchanged grins. Digger looked like he wanted to celebrate by finding something that would blow up. Even Owen looked a little less green. “As soon as you guys get him trained up and—” the captain shot a slightly mocking glance at Nick, “—all of you are healed up and ready, we’ll look into getting you shipped out.”

“Oo-rah,” Sidewinder replied in unison. It’d been a few years since Nick had joined the core, but he still loved the sound of that word.

“Go at least a little easy on the kid, boys,” Markeson said as he left the room. “I’m pretty much begging you not to run him off the first week.”

“Or, hell, the first day,” Ty said with a smirk less than a second after the door clicked shut behind the captain.

“Please.” Kelly rolled his eyes, but instead of facing Ty, he walked straight toward Nick. Still talking to Ty. “You don’t scare me, pretty boy.” 

“Pretty boy?” Ty looked dumbstruck. “ _Pretty boy_? I’m honestly not sure if I should be complimented or insulted.”

“Both, probably.” Without pausing or asking the least bit of permission, Kelly raised his hands and placed them on Nick’s cheeks. Nick held his breath and beat down his gut reaction to run. “You look like hell, Nicko.”

“I’ve looked worse.”

The bastard smirked. “So have we all.”

Kelly’s hands shifted on Nick’s face, his touch gentle and so warm. And distracting. Hellaciously distracting.

Desperate to anchor himself, Nick glanced at Ty, hoping for one of his friend’s sardonic smiles and quippy comments. Instead, Ty was standing with Eli watching Kelly work. Just watching. And apparently reserving judgment.

“Nick hasn’t knocked him on his ass,” Eli commented like he was talking about the weather.

“Maybe whatever the Doc slipped him yesterday hasn’t worn off,” Owen said.

Digger grinned. “Either that or Lucky is mellowing out in his old age.”

“Bastards,” Nick muttered.

“He couldn’t put me on my ass even if he tried,” Kelly said, jumping into the conversation like he’d been part of it from the beginning and not its subject. Finally, he finished his exam and patted Nick’s cheek, his hand lingering past the line of necessary but not quite reaching the border or flirtatious. But then he slipped his hand around Nick’s waist and leaned against him. “So I’ve heard you guys are completely bonkers and I’m really hoping that’s true.” 

“It’s true,” Owen said at the same time Ty protested, “What do you mean he couldn’t put you on your ass? He’s  _Recon_ , kid.”

Kelly looked up at Nick and laughed. “Yeah. Obviously.”

“What makes you think you can take him?” Eli asked. Nick could barely keep up with the conversation. He was spending too much of his attention on  _not_  reacting to Kelly’s weight against his side.

“Because I’ve got an undefeated sparring record in all of the last three bases I was stations at.” Kelly didn’t even look smug when he said it. It was just a fact to him. His hair was sandy blond, his eyes were chameleon-esque, and he could kick some serious ass.

“And why are you still hugging Irish?” Ty asked, arms crossed and way too much speculation on his face. A kind of speculation Nick did  _not_  want anyone touching him with.

He was trying to figure out how to disentangle himself from Kelly without starting shit when Kelly released him and stepped away, a very faint hint of color in his cheeks.

“Sorry.” He rubbed one hand over his short hair. “Man, even the Navy couldn’t break me of the habit of hugging everyone.” Kelly shrugged, looking slightly ( _very_  slightly) embarrassed—or hesitant, maybe—but not that apologetic. “I’m a hugger. It’s going to happen.”

 _So get used to it_ , was what Kelly seemed to leave unsaid.

Ty raised his eyebrows and, like always, the rest of Sidewinder waited to see how he would react before anything else happened. Even off the field they all followed him. It seemed like they couldn’t help it. Nick never had been able to anyway. He’d known from day one that he would follow Beaumont Tyler Grady just about anywhere. 

Ty took a step closer and pointed right at the center of Kelly’s face. “You try that shit in the dark and I swear to god I will claim self-defense when they charge me with breaking your neck.”

Kelly laughed and everyone else relaxed. “No hugs in the dark. Got it. I make no promises, but at least I’m fairly warned.”

“Ya’ll heard that, right?” Ty met everyone’s eyes, waiting until they nodded to move to the next before he finally turned back to Kelly. “I got witnesses.”

Grinning, Kelly threw one arm around Ty’s neck and ruffled his hair with his free hand. “Loosen up, babe. You know you love it.” 

For a second, Tyler looked absolutely perplexed by the human hanging off of him, but then his smile spread and he shook his head as he returned the hug one-armed. “Markesan was right. You really are one crazy SOB.”

“Takes one to know one right?” Kelly asked, this time looking right at Nick.

Nick swallowed and nodded, forcing down the fear he’d felt when Ty studied him like that, the desire he’d felt with Kelly pressed that close, and the  _stupid_  spike of not-quite-jealousy when Kelly had pressed himself just as close to Ty. He clubbed it all into that little box he’d created last night and stared at Kelly, imprinting his image next to the caption DEVIL DOC: OFF LIMITS. DO NOT TOUCH.

“It definitely takes one to know one,” Nick agreed. “Welcome home, Kels.”


End file.
